Blogger’s Note: At a recent meeting of NASSP’s Assistant Principal Task Force, Keith East presented each member of the Task Force with a wooden spoon. The spoon is handmade by Maxie Eades, an 85 year-old Master Craftswoman. A handmade wooden spoon is an odd gift. However, I had a sense that Keith had a story behind the spoon, and he did.
The idea of using a spoon as a metaphor for teaching and learning came to mind after two separate and distinct conversations with educators from the international community.
The first was a math teacher from the west African country of Cameroon. When pressed by his American public school administrative team as to why his students were not performing well, he replied, “I cannot feed students who do not wish to eat.” His statement piqued my curiosity as to what we as educators could do to convince students that they were hungry even if they did not realize it.
The second conversation was with a British educator. When interviewed he was asked why was it that students in the United Kingdom were not subjected to standardized testing as often as students in the United States. His response was, “We simply believe that when students are hungry that they should be fed, rather than weighed.” While “weighing” students has its place, it should not overshadow the fact that education is really about feeding the hunger for knowledge and enlightenment.
We acknowledge that it is anathema to “spoon feed” information to students merely to have them spit it back to us. That is not a true teaching or learning experience. However, is it not true that the ultimate goal of all teaching is for the student to take hold of the spoon and feed themselves?
R. Keith East is Associate Professor in the School of Education at Southern Wesleyan University.
Central, SC 29630